Jerry Goldsmith February 10, 1929 - July 21, 2004 These are all in my Top Ten. These and his two Flint scores, but I found both of those films' artwork needlessly 'booby'.

July 17, 1959 - North By Northwest Also, on top? Not even a matte painting, but just a painting! Nothing moves, not the cars, not the people. I'd've loved it if Hitch had pulled back from this painting on a wall inside the UN, revealing Thornhill entering.

July 17, 1968 - Yellow Submarine

Die Hard is thirty-something today. And before everyone chimes in with the obvious, yes, yes, we all know it's a Harry Potter movie: a guy sneaks around a huge, multi-level, danger-filled building at night trying not to be caught by Alan Rickman?

Lennon & Potsie. What could have been if the world were tilted just a little differently on its axis.

Live Aid, a global event, for those with televisions: July 13, 1985. I didn't see it live, of course, but my guess is that this would have been my favorite performance. Her music translates very well to the live stage. Helen Folasade Adu (Sade). I just went through another Sade phase last year.

The still clever Time Bandits turns 45 today. In its day, Chaplin's final silent, Modern Times, was 45. And there was much rejoicing.

And Now We Are 40. On July 2, 1986 Big Trouble in Little China was *way* ahead of its time: Bringing the elements of Chinese martial arts/Magic into the states in a giant gulp about 15 years before Crouching Tiger opened the door a little more generally wider...

July 2, 1980 Airplane.

July 2, 1949 - The Fountainhead, in which Howard Roark says, "Nope, socialism!" I need to rewatch this. I tend to like King Vidor's pictures, and I need to erase Barbara Stanwyck from my memories of it and give Patricia Neal her places back.

July 2, 1946 - The Stranger. There's Edward G. Robinson in the role of investigator again, more serious, though no less concerned than he was in Double Indemnity. 80 year old today, is Orson Welles' The Stranger.

June 30, 1951 Strangers on a Train. It's on the rotation for my top Hitchcock picture. It pretty much has it all, humor, tension, consistently great cinematography, an unexpectedly spectacular ending and a fair number of well fleshed out, minor characters, including Hitch’s daughter, Patricia.

June 15, 1990 - Gremlins 2: The New Batch What a surprise this was! A Why Did They Bother sequel turned out to be a comedy cavalcade. If Joe Dante's Looney Tunes movie was no great hit, it may be because he had already made it with this. Different characters, but absolutely the same comic ethos.

Just look at those eyes! June 15, 1960 - The Apartment Until recently, I thought this movie was a hollow nothing, having seen it widescreen, but on a VHS tape. No detail. It matters here, not for big sets and vistas, but for faces.

June 15, 1948 - Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Some humor dates. Jack Benny and Burns & Allen haven't dated. The Marx Brothers and Abbot and Costello have. That doesn't mean that they're never funny, just not so consistently anymore.

June 11, 1982 E.T. E.T. is looking. Later Keys is looking. Everybody's watching, observing, all in ways that tell you as much about them as about what they're eyeing.

June 10, 2005 - Batman Begins. A pretty good picture that starts up a great trilogy. Especially if you think about cities. 21 years old now, Tim Burton's first Batman picture was 16 years old in 2005. This, for me, so-so movie became greater after the third of its trilogy gave it more potency.

June 10, 1991 - The Twin Peaks finale ...the first one, anyway.

On this day in 1974, Jerry Goldsmith began recording the score for Chinatown. 10 days later, it was in theaters. And that wasn't the closest call of his career, either.

Also, I have a stamp like that. Doesn't come up much, but man, when you need it, just nothing else will do.

June 8, 1984 - Top Secret, from the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team better known for Airplane and Police Squad! It's a movie of some very funny gags glued together with too much tongue in cheek stuff. I like it a lot, until I'm actually watching it.

June 8, 1984 - Gremlins is released. Pretty. Fable-ish. Wicked humor here and there. Sweet. Nasty. Definitely Looney, yes, as in "Tunes."

On this day in 1949, George Orwell's 1984 was released. On this day in 1984, Ghostbusters was released.

On this day in 1972, presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm visited her racist opponent, George Wallace, where he was hospitalized following an assassination attempt. She tossed away a perfectly good, socially acceptable opportunity to hate. What was she thinking?

June 8, 1937 - Grande Illusion There's a lot of nice poster art for this one. A couple of years ago this was listed as opening on June 8th in France, not the 4th, but that's been updated, so I'm late.

June 8, 1937 - Grande Illusion, probably the first prisoner of war camp movie, certainly the first great one. Warm, cold and witty, I think it was my first foreign language film too. It's 89, but feels much fresher than that.

1982, Tron. I maintain that this little scene is among the best Car Chase Scenes in cinema, next to the asteroid field scene from EMPIRE. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFuR...

3 weeks before it came out in 1984, my friends and I saw a sneak preview of Gremlins, expecting monsters and getting unexpected comedy. Midway through, there's a scene of chaos in a bar where Looney Tunes humor is dialed up to eleven, but this moment was the one that just dropped my friend and I.

May 29, 1954 - Dial 'M' for Murder. In 3D this is as good as many of Hitchcock's greats. In 2D, as it was released, it is missing something important. Poor Grace Kelly being strangled. Now for this one, if you cross your eyes the images will merge into the 3D one.

May 29, 1913 - A riot in France over a piece of art! I know, "must be Tuesday." On that date, "The Rite of Spring" was first performed for an audience, and the fighting and lettuce tossing began almost immediately. Here's a nice piece on the 1913 event: www.theguardian.com/culture/2013...